Best Techniques for Beef Short Ribs in Red Wine for Home Chefs

gailannbrown701
Apr 30
5 min read

Updated: May 5

This version of a Master Class - Short Ribs in Wine utilizes more affordable ingredients and simplifies the process to create a restaurant-quality dish costing approximately $7.50 per serving. These short ribs, served with a delectable wine sauce, are tender and melt in your mouth atop a bed of polenta and mushrooms.

Beef Short Ribs in Red Wine with Polenta and Mushrooms

Chef Thomas Keller presents a Master Class on preparing beef short ribs, showcasing a three-day recipe that is served with Polenta and Mushroom Conserva. Although the recipe is remarkable, it is quite complex and time-intensive. You can make an excellent version of this dish with much less effort and expense.

Ingredients

Short Ribs

For this recipe, choose English-cut beef short ribs. Although short ribs have become

quite expensive in many outlets, I have found great, inexpensive options at Aldi and Wild Fork Foods. In both cases, short ribs are $7-8/pound. If neither of these options is available to you, look at warehouse clubs, your local butcher shop, or online retailers.

Wine

Any decent medium red wine would be fine for this dish. I used the Aldi brand Pinot Noir, which is better than the $5 per bottle price suggests. While you should never cook with a wine you would not drink, a good bottle of fine wine is lost when used for a red wine marinade and braise. Yes, it is acceptable to mix wines if you have two partial bottles.

Polenta

Polenta is difficult to find and expensive, but plain old medium-grind yellow

cornmeal is available everywhere and is a great substitute. While you are free to make this dish with polenta, I have had very good results with cornmeal for a fraction of the cost.. Polenta is made from a specific type of cornmeal that is high in starch with a coarse texture. Medium-grind cornmeal mimics this texture with a more robust flavor. If you use yellow cornmeal instead of polenta, make sure it is medium grind and use generous amounts of butter and milk.

Mushrooms

The Master Class recipe for this dish calls for a "conserva" of mushrooms, which is mushrooms in a large quantity of olive oil. I find this to be too rich (not to mention expensive) against the richness of both the short ribs and the polenta. I like to lightly sauté the mushrooms with herbs and serve them with a drizzle of sherry vinegar. This cuts the richness of the dish. Choose whatever type of mushrooms you like and can find at an acceptable price. I used Baby Bellas, which are just wonderful and available everywhere.

Instructions

This recipe will take at least a day, and if you marinate overnight, it will take 1 1/2 days. The first step is to marinate the ribs in red wine and aromatics.

Marinate the Ribs

Clean and trim your short ribs. Mix:

2-3 cups of red wine (Aldi, $5)
1 carrot, diced ($0.15)
1 medium onion, diced ($0.25)
1 stalk of celery, diced ($0.10)
3 garlic cloves, smashed ($0.10)
sprigs of thyme and parsley ($0.50)
1-2 dried bay leaves

Place the meat with the marinade in a plastic bag and refrigerate for several hours or (ideally) overnight.

Brown the Ribs

After the marinade period, remove the ribs from the marinade and dry them with paper towels. (Do not discard the marinade--you will use it as a cooking liquid.) Salt the ribs generously and dust them lightly with flour. Heat 2 T. oil in a Dutch oven and brown the ribs on all sides. Set the ribs aside.

Prepare the Cooking Liquid

Add the marinade to the empty Dutch oven and scrape up any caramelization from the bottom of the pan. Place over medium-high heat until it is simmering. Simmer 5-10 minutes, and skim off the foam and impurities. Put the ribs in the pan and add enough chicken stock to cover them.

Cook the Ribs

Place a circle of parchment paper over the stock and place it in a preheated 275-degree oven. (Before starting, trace your cooking pan on parchment paper with a pencil and cut it out.) If you don't have parchment paper, cover the pan loosely with foil. Cook for 3-4 hours, until the ribs are tender. Remove from the oven.

Carefully remove ribs from the pot and set aside on a plate. Put the contents of the Dutch oven through a sieve. Discard the vegetables. If there is time, cool the liquid and refrigerate until the fat rises and hardens in a layer on top of the sauce. (You can return the ribs in the liquid if you refrigerate them until cool. Just cover loosely with foil.) Remove the fat layer. If there is no time for this step, skim off the fat.

Reducing the Sauce

Reduce the liquid to half its volume in a pot over medium heat. Place the short ribs back in the reduced braising liquid. Heat the short ribs through and baste with the liquid. Add a bit of stock, if necessary, to make the liquid the consistency you like. The sauce should be thick, not watery. Add 2-3 additional tablespoons of butter to finish the sauce. It will thicken a bit more after you add the butter.

Make the Polenta

Combine 3 cups of chicken stock, a clove of pressed garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Pour in 1 3/4 cups polenta or cornmeal steadily and whisk in. Reduce the heat to low, and stir for around 20 minutes. The polenta should be somewhat dry and coat the bottom of the pan. While doing this, heat 1 cup of milk for one minute in the microwave. Add a stick of unsalted butter, two tablespoons at a time, until incorporated. Add the heated milk 1/4 cup at a time and stir until creamy. Cook until the polenta is the right consistency—thick and creamy but a little loose. Correct the salt and pepper. Remember that you can add more stock or milk, or cook the polenta more to get the consistency you like. Just keep stirring on low heat, and you can make the polenta however you like.

Saute the Mushrooms

Clean and slice a pound of fresh mushrooms. Add two tablespoons of oil and three tablespoons of butter to a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and sprigs of thyme and rosemary, and sauté until cooked through and soft. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with sherry vinegar when you serve (if you have it).